The JR Newsletter is the official e-newsletter of the John Reich Collectors Society. The purpose of the John Reich Collectors Society (JRCS) is to encourage the study of numismatics, particularly United States gold and silver coins minted before the introduction of the Seated Liberty design, and to provide technical and educational information concerning such coins.

Sunday, May 28, 2017

Die states seem to be getting more popular
these days with collectors of early silver from half dimes to dollars.

I
recently corresponded with a customer, and relatively new collector of early
dollars, who reported a new die state for an 1800 silver dollar that he had
recently purchased. He had noted that this die marriage was only known in
the early or “Perfect Die
State.” This will be reported in
more detail in upcoming article in JR Newsletter or the John Reich
Journal.

At
the recent Central States show, a collector purchased two early silver dollars
from me from the Miller Early Dollar Reference Collection that Andy Lustig and
I are selling. This collector had never previously owned or purchased an
early dollar. One of the Dollars he purchased from me was an example of
1798 B-16, BB-110 in an extremely rare early die state, with no signs of the
die break that forms over the 198 of the date and eventually continues to the
rim under Star 1. In the latest die state known a large cud forms under
this crack. I sent him the link to an article I’d authored in the John
Reich Journal on the die stages or states of this marriage. The
article was titled, “Die State Study for the Very Rare 1798 B-16 Dollar.”

For
those interested, here is a link to the article on the 1798 B-16 Dollar and the
multiple and distinctive die states it is known to come in. The article
is now found on the Newman
Numismatic Portal on page 21 of the December 1998 issue of the JR
Journal. You will enjoy the die progression photos in the article,
with six different and distinctive die states. At the time of the article
I had not seen an example with no signs of the break starting over the 198 of
the date. I’ve now seen and recorded three examples of this the earliest
die state known.

On
Friday, I picked up a new consignment of 67 Capped Bust Half Dollars ranging in
grade from PCGS VF35 to AU58. In looking through these, the consignor had
noted on an 1819/8 “Large 9” Half Dollar that Star 2 was boldly recut, and that
there was something curious between the two upper star points. It looked
to me like a stem with a flower bud opening! Or was it a snake or serpent
with its mouth slightly open? Upon further study, it sure looks like a
steam and flower bud opening up to me, very similar to the stems and buds on
the reverse branch. I shared this with Steve Herrman on Saturday when we
got together for lunch. He had never noted this anomaly before
personally, but quickly found other examples in the Heritage archive, enlarged
the photos of the coins, and studied Star 1. There were two
examples of this die marriage, 1819/8 O-104 and 104a. The “stem” was
weaker (partially missing) on the later die state, O-104a. Was this die
punched by mistake?

Here
is a link to an example from the Heritage archive. You can click on this
link and enlarge the photo to see the recutting, etc. on Star 2.

Have
any of the Capped Bust Half Dollar Specialist Collectors noted this before, and
what caused it? If so, please contact me at wdperki(at)attglobal.net and I will share
this with JR Newsletter readers
in a future issue.

As we prepare for the upcoming ANA
convention and our annual meeting there are a few things I would like everyone
to think about:

1.We need content
for the next issue of the JR Journal.Articles
about personal experiences, research papers, personal observations, questions
and ???? are all welcome for publication.Please send your submission(s) to bkaroleff(at)yahoo.com.

2.JRCS has a new
updated website.Steve Herrman
previously wrote about it for the JR Newsletter.He led the committee for the update and did a
wonderful job!Now we have to pay for
the efforts.We have decided to have a
bid or buy sale of donated items to raise money to pay for the cost of the
work.We want to keep the donations to a
$50 value or more for the sale.I will
be coordinating the effort so please send an email to me at bkaroleff(at)yahoo.com
to discuss your donation before sending it.We are also accepting cash donations should you decide that is more to
your taste.Cash donations are tax deductible
as we are a 501(c)(3) educational society.Cash donations should be sent directly to Dave Perkins at PO
Box 3039 Centennial, CO
80161.We will be selling the items this Fall after
the ANA convention.

Donations already on hand include:

Cash of $200 donated by Winston Zack

A complete set of the JRJ donated by the club archives.

An autographed catalog of the Ed Price collection of early
dime and quarter eagles sold by Heritage in 2008, donated by Ed Price.

A two volume hardbound set of Silver Dollars and Trade
Dollars of the US, A Complete Encyclopedia written by Q. David Bowers donated
by Brad Karoleff

Please consider participating by donating something for the
sale, bidding or buying from the sale or BOTH!

Nominees for JRCS Hall of Fame

Nominations for the JRCS Hall of Fame class of 2019 are now OPEN.

The membership is encouraged to send nominations for the Hall of Fame at any time. You can nominate candidates for either the veteran (those who contributed before the advent of JRCS) or the modern (those who have been members of JRCS) categories. Please include any pertinent information about the nominee that you feel necessary. Nominees will then be voted on by the HOF committee and the inductees will be announced at the annual meeting at the ANA convention in the summer. We look forward to seeing your nominations!

Please forward your nominations to bkaroleff(at)yahoo.com or to jrnewsletter(at)gmail.com or to any of the other members of the JRCS board of officers.